A Little Bit of Heaven: An Irish-American Anthology.
Author: McMAHON, Sean (Editor).
Dublin: Mercier Press, 1999. 176 pages. Paperback.
Many American songs are still taken as Irish by the people and even the great John McCormack happily sang ‘Ireland, Mother Ireland’ and ‘Mother Machree’. In reality, songs of exile written by the Irish in America soon gave way to those reflecting a self-conscious Irish-Americanism, when the mainly rural immigrants established themselves in urban ghettos in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. Many of these pieces, such as ‘My Wild Irish Rose’ and ‘My Irish Molly’, still figure in the repertoire of Irish traditional groups, although they owe far more to the era of vaudeville, music hall and Tin Pan Alley than to any Irish musical tradition.
This anthology consists of popular songs, verse and prose, which reflect the experience of the Irish in America. It includes such perennial favourites as: ‘A Little Bit of Heaven’, ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’, ‘Mush, Mush, Too-ral-i-aday’, ‘Macnamara’s Band’, ‘Mick McGilligan’s Ball’. The work of such ‘native’ Irish-Americans as Finley Peter Dunne, George M. Cohan and Chauncey Olcott features, as well as verse by John Boyle O’Reilly (JFK’s favourite), Thomas D’Arcy Magee and J. I. C. Clarke.
A Little Bit of Heaven is a treasure trove for all those interested in traditional and popular music, Irish and American alike.
ISBN: 1856352501